A Rose Bloomed
by hungrytiger11
Summary: Getting yellow roses signified the ending of an affair or relationship. They also meant friendship. The irony was not lost on Ino, who knew how roses bloomed. Eventual Shika/Ino.
1. Flowers for No One

Title: A Rose Blooms

Artist/Author: hungytiger11

Rating: G

Characters/pairings: Shikamaru, Ino

Summary: Getting yellow roses signified the ending of an affair or relationship. They also meant friendship. The irony was not lost on Ino, who knew how roses bloomed.

A/N: My first multi-chapter story!

************************************************************************

"My father got these today." A bouquet of flowers was thrust into his face. They weren't nice flowers either. They were wilted and smelt of garbage. Backing up a step, he realized it was because there was garbage on them. Old noodles, potato peels, and bits of newspaper clung to the petals and wrapped around the stems.

"These are yellow roses. My dad doesn't sell yellow roses, so she had to have bought them somewhere else."

Beyond the burst of rotting flowers, he could see a girl with short, fair hair who looked near his own age. He thought she might have looked a little familiar, like from family dinners or his parents' friends. His mother's orders had been to find a girl at this house and bring her back with him, cause she was going to stay with them a few days. Shikamaru wondered if this was that girl. He also wondered if she'd quit beating the flowers against the pavement soon. It was making loose bits of noodle come flying back at him.

"Daddy doesn't sell them 'cause they mean 'an end of an affair' if you get'em, and that's sad, Daddy said. So don't you think it was mean she sent them?" He realized this was a question, but the girl didn't seem to need an answer. His mother often didn't need answers to questions either. Then the girl sniffed, and, with alarm, Shikamaru realized it was entirely possible this sniffing, rotten-flowers girl might just start crying, and _what would he do then_? Crying girls were not part of orders.

"She sent them, and now she won't be a new mommy, and now that's making Daddy go away," she whispered, finally letting the flowers drop listless by her side. As they dropped, he noticed the stems had been thick with thorns; her hands were torn up from gripping so tightly. Feeling hopelessly awkward, he did what his dad said to do when things got tough. He took a deep breath and decided to take it like a ninja. He knelt down beside her. His thumb traced over several of the cuts on her hand, as he inspected the damage. Her hands were smudged with dirt, and, now, so were his. He wondered how much garbage she'd dug through to get those roses, and what she was going to do with them now she had them.

"That's not why he's going," he jerkily informed her. "My dad's going too; they're on the same team. It's a mission, just a mission."

She rubbed her fingers against her palms, but made no move to release her wrists from his grip. She made no move to look up at him either. "He asked for a mission cause of her. 'Cause she sent these this morning."

"That's a pretty dumb thing to do." The words escaped out of him before he could give it a second thought, but the horrid possibility that it might be true had entered his brain. His father was leaving too. That wasn't why though. It just couldn't be. His dad couldn't be risking his life cause some girl broke a friend's heart. That wouldn't be fair, but as his mom often told him, life wasn't about fair…

Her arms jerked back, ripping hands out his grip.

"And who are you?" she snarled, as if, only now, she was truly aware she'd been talking to a stranger. The words were so fast and angry that he stumbled back, landing on his butt. _And I was only trying to help!_ he groaned inwardly. _Ugh! What a pain!_

"I'm Shikamaru," he grated out, rubbing at the forming bruise. "My mom made me come get you. Since your dad is going with my dad on a mission, you're suppose to stay at our house."

The girl ran her hand through short, fair hair, leaving dirt streaks behind.

"Oh," she huffed out tonelessly. A blush crossed over her nose and cheeks. "You're not gonna tell my dad about this, are you?"

Shikamaru wondered if she meant 'tell on her' for digging flowers out of the dustbin, for being upset, or for being rude. Not that it mattered. He wasn't this girl's mom. He wasn't gonna waste his time tattling. That'd be too much trouble. He reached up to rub his neck, spitting out a "No."

Something crumbled inside her, making the girl suddenly seem more open, but also more vulnerable, as she smiled in relief. He stepped over the scattered cuttings towards her, heading to the door. "Good," she sighed. " Um, I'm Ino by the way…."


	2. Tracing the Scarring Face

Title: A Rose Bloomed: Tracing the Scarring Face

Author: hungrytiger11

Rating: G

Characters/ pairings: Ino, Shikamaru, Shikaku/Yoshino

Summery: Going through this world, you will see many things and understand few. Hold tight to those secrets you learn.

Beneath her hand, the deer's fur was smooth, and the muscle warm and moving. Its breathes were shallow, its eyes alert. With very deliberate movements, she raised and lowered her hand to pet the animal. It stood very still, but could be across the field in the time it would take for her to raise her hand again. What would it be to run that fast? Why didn't the deer run? Who knew, but the knowledge that it stayed where it was for her was like getting a secret, or a gift. It was something special, something you couldn't speak of.

"Like the deer, Ino-chan?" Shikaku-san called out to her. Turning her head, so he was in her view, she nodded. Beside the dark-haired man was his son, Shikamaru. He looked just like his father, except he wore a scowl. Of course, that was his normal expression, so it was hard to tell if he was actually mad about something, or just thinking. Tearing away from the animal, she ran up to the Nara men, arms reaching. Without missing a beat, Shikaku-san reached down to scoop her up, and, with a long-suffering sigh, Shikamaru took off after the deer she'd just scared away.

"You shouldn't do that, Ino-chan. We have work to do with the deer," Shikaku-san admonished her. Ignoring his words completely, Ino reached out to touch his face, tracing the bandage that covered most of it, just as she'd seen Yoshino-san do many times. It fascinated her to watch Yoshino's fingers skim across her husband's face, to hear her worry about his scarring wounds. Her face grew so soft, and Shikaku-san's eyes always fluttered closed when she traced her hands across his face. What was that between them, and why was it there? But Shikaku-san jerked his face back, and Ino realized she must have been much rougher than Yoshino-san ever was. "Careful, Ino-chan. These are still healing," he reminded her.

Ino nodded, momentarily shamefaced. The Nara family head hadn't spoken of how he'd gotten the wounds on his face to anyone, except presumably to Yoshino-san and maybe the Hokage. He had left on a mission with her father, but had returned alone and bearing scars. Shikaku-san said that her father was okay, and was just staying for a longer spying mission, but Ino worried. Why would one father come home and another stay away? Why were there wounds across the returning one's face? Ino sighed, and then shook herself, remembering what she was going to tell the man holding her tight.

"Guess what," she chirped, grabbing his shoulders to pull herself up to his ear. His arms groped to keep a hold of her shifting weight. When she was right next to his ear, she whispered, "Shika-kun and I, we're married! I didn't even know, but we are!"

Loud, dry laughter erupted after a minute, and then she was too jostled to reply, as Shikaku-san began to move to where Shikamaru had corralled the stray deer. Burying her head against his shoulder, Ino frowned. It was true! So why was he laughing? She had learned of this fact from Yoshino-san just that morning, while they were making breakfast together. Ino had never known much about cooking before coming to live with the Nara's three months ago, but Yoshino knew just everything about cooking, as far as Ino could see. While they were chopping some vegetables, Yoshino had praised her progress in cooking, and said she was going to make someone a great daughter-in-law.

"What's that?" Ino had asked.

"Its what you'll be to your husband's family once you get married, silly goose," Yoshino-san had explained.

"But what's married, Yoshino-san?"

"Well, Ino-chan, married is what Shikaku and I are. Its…" she had paused then, to search for words, "Well, it's living together with your best friend, the person you love."

Ino had scrunched her nose at that. "Shika and I already do _that_. We even share a bed. He said he's not gonna sleep on the floor 'cause of any girl. But I'm not gonna sleep on the floor either, so we comp'mised, and share it."

Like Shikaku-san was doing right now, Yoshino-san had laughed hard at her then. "That's not quite the same thing, Ino-chan," she'd told her.

"But it is," she murmured into Shikaku-san's sleeve. "Shikamaru is my best, only friend I have," she said, as if that explained it all, and really, to Ino, it did.

Placing her back down to the ground, Shikaku-san squeezed her shoulders and gestured to the bushes behind the deer and his son. "Take a look at that Ino-chan, roses."

Shikamaru had already turned to look at where his father was pointing, and Ino ran up to stand beside him and get a better look. They were flowers, of that Ino was sure. But looking at them, they seemed twisted, and smaller and plainer than any rose that ever came into her father's store. As if sensing her doubt, Shikamaru turned to her and explained, "These are wild roses, not like the ones your dad got. These are different."

Shikaku-san came up to sit along side them, and both children sank to the ground as he did so.

"These mean friendship. Pretty nice thing for our deer to eat, huh?" Shikaku-san asked. Shikamaru didn't even bother replying, but merely grunted. Ino nodded and stared intently at the flowers. They were small, and curving branches of thorns were entangled with every bloom. One would have to really want those flowers to go through all the trouble it would be to pick them.

She glanced back at Shikamaru, who was now laid out on the grass, staring at the clouds. Very gingerly, she scooted up along side him and lay down too, with her head on his shoulder. She had seen Yoshino-san do this with Shikaku-san, on nights when he convinced her to slow down, and sit back and relax. She'd never seen anyone do anything like that before, not even her daddy with all of his different girlfriends who he said might become new mommies, but who never did. She'd wondered what it felt like. She'd wondered if she would ever know, and now here she was. Shikamaru sighed, and grumbled a "troublesome," but he also readjusted his arm so they would both be more comfortable. Ino knew from that, she could stay.

He was like the deer, she decided. Beneath her touch was warm and moving muscle. With each breath, her own head rose and fell. This was her favorite part about living at the Nara's- Shikamaru. More than Shikaku-san, who let her touch his bandaged face, and more than even Yoshino-san, who let her cut up food for every meal, Shikamaru let her do what she wanted. He might say it was troublesome or pain. He might grumble or even sigh, but he let her do what she wanted. No. That wasn't quite right. He didn't just let her do what she wanted. If she wanted him to play, he would. If she needed a hug, he gave her one. He let her share his bed, so she didn't have to sleep on the floor, and if she cried because she missed her Daddy who still hadn't come home from his mission, he was there too. He was her best, closest friend, and that, really, did explain it all.

Settling back, she watched the clouds and felt for the rise and fall of her best friend's breath, staying very still, as Shikaku-san worked on the deer behind them. She did not want to startle anything into running again.


	3. Picture This

Title: A Rose Bloomed Chapter Three: Picture This

Author: hungrytiger11

Rating: G

Characters: Yoshino/Shikaku, Ino, Shikamaru, mentions of others

Summary: Shikamaru never smiled in pictures, and hadn't meant to in this one either. A little blonde girl made him do it. Fluff.

________________________________________________________________________

Finally getting a moment to herself, Yoshino collapsed on to the couch and groaned at the sight of photos everywhere. Of course, as a photographer, it was natural that photos were everywhere. Photos were her life. Tripods, flashes, different cameras, and lens all littered the house along with dulled kunai and old reports to the Hokage. Random sets of negatives might be found weeks later in a book, where Shikaku had obviously used them as bookmarks. Photos everywhere were the status quo at the Nara household. But, Yoshino thought to herself, this was a bit _more_ everywhere than was usual, for even her.

Piling up. That's what it was all doing. She'd spent all day in the darkroom catching up making prints, and as much as she loved her darkroom, she most certainly did not enjoy feeling as if the stink of chemicals pervaded her very being, nor did she enjoy Shikaku's remarking on it. What was worse was there was still so much more to get done the next day!

"Troublesome," she grumbled to herself, repeating her husband and son's favorite phrase. She picked up a pen and the nearest print, writing out the date and names of the subjects. The house needed to be clean, and if it was going to get done, it was going to be her who did it. Goodness knew, Shikaku wouldn't. Of course, years ago she had forbade him from ever so much as touching any of her photographic equipment, so it wasn't like there was much he could do any way. But as far as Yoshino was concerned that was entirely beside the point!

Her hand stopped on a pile of class photos she'd taken earlier that week.

"_Smile!" A flash went off, and Yoshino repressed a sigh. Predictably, about four kids most definitely did not smile. Their scowling features had glared back at her, as if getting a class photograph was some heinous torture not even Ibiki-san from the I&T would dare use! Likewise, about the same amount of students goofed off when the shot was taken. Hands were forming rabbit ears behind unsuspecting friends, or pushing or shoving any nearby people. Kami, it was times like Kohona Academy's Class Picture Day that seriously had her reconsidering becoming a photographer. Or a parent. Well, Yoshino amended to herself, maybe not a parent. She never for a second regretted that. Now, if one of the little monsters were her children, _then_ she might, but Shikamaru, for all that he was one of the laziest people she'd ever met, even if he was only five, was well-behaved. Probably, he thought it was too much trouble to misbehave._

"_Okay, Iruka-sensei!" She beamed over at the young teacher. "That takes care of all the Ninja Academy students! Who's next?"_

_The pony tailed man smiled back wearily at her. Being the newest teacher, he'd been saddled with corralling each class as they came to be photographed. " Oh, just the Kindernins, left then!" _

_Yoshino felt her smile falter. " Th-that's still half the classes then."_

"_Well, no. Not quite, but it feels like it sometimes." Iruka grumbled, turning towards the door to go collect the first batch of five years olds. The Ninja Academy didn't officially let students choose if they wanted to enroll as Nins-in-training or as regular students till they turned seven. Till then, all students had the same schooling. It was mostly good, allowing time to evaluate potential before any decision was reached. Of course, the downside was, while the graduating ninja classes would generally be less than twenty, and those who passed their genin tests with their new teams was even less, the number of kindergarteners was huge. This year, she knew, there were almost eighty newly enrolled into school. That made four separate classes at least. _

_Yoshino sighed and strained to find a bushy bundle of hair poking out above the hordes Iruka was sending her way. Maybe she'd get to see her son, at least…._

Her fingers grazed over another shot, buried under the first. It was less professional looking, but the expressions were definitely more heartfelt than those in the class photos had been. Smiling up at her were the faces of Shikamaru and Ino-chan on their first day of school. Getting Shikamaru to smile in pictures was near impossible, and truthfully, he hadn't meant to for this one either. A little blonde girl had made him do it.

Ino had been an emotional train wreck the entire week leading up to their very first day of school. Alternatively excited, and nervous, she'd rush around the house, beginning things and then abandoning them halfway through, and always asking a million questions.

"_Yoshino-san, what will we eat at school?"_

"_Yoshino-san, teachers won't be mean, will they?"_

"_Yoshino-san, what if Dad comes back but can't find me, cause he doesn't know I'm at school?"_

Her own son, Shikamaru, would trail along after her like a puppy. He never said a word about school at all, and he rarely joined Ino-chan in whatever she was doing while flitting about from room to room. So long as he was in the same room, he seemed content enough. Of course, Yoshino reminded herself, that was hardly a new development. He'd been that way for nearly eight months, ever since he'd met the girl.

Nights had been worse. Strung out from so much nervous energy, the little girl tended to get over tired by sundown. Moods would shift from nervous to upset. She cried more often for her father on those nights, more than she had since first coming to live with them. On those nights, the little Yamanaka only seemed to stop crying for the Nara men. Shikaku would gravely pull her into his lap, letting the small, tear-faced child trace his scars. The scene, though it seemed to calm Ino-chan down, always jarred Yoshino's nerves; she much preferred Shikamaru's methods to her husband's.

She couldn't even say what exactly Shikamaru did to calm her. He seemed to instinctively know when the little girl was going to start crying. Then, awkward as could be, and acting as though it was a big nuisance, he's walk over and murmur things to her, and maybe offers his favorite stuffed toy (a deer creatively named Deer). Then he'd let her lie on him, hug him, hit him, and even yell at him. He never quite reciprocated the action, but he never outright rejected any such acts either. It was like he just knew what she needed to let out her pent-up fears and each time, without fail, Ino stopped crying.

Knowing all this, she'd bribed the administrator-nin into ensuring the two would be in the same class. It would be easier that way. Inoishi, responsible parent that he was, had left no word about when he would return, and presumably Ino-chan would be living with them for the near future. Might as well make it easier to drop off and pick up kids at school.

The transition to their household had not always been smooth, but Yoshino loved having the girl there. She was just the sort of person that everyone, young or old, man or woman, fell in love with, just a little bit. Her son seemed to be both the one expectation to this rule and the best example for it. Best friends and worse enemies, it was a good thing Shikamaru was too young to truly get hurt. Or mostly too young at any rate. Yoshino smiled, thinking of what had happened just before taking this snapshot to cause the look on her son's face.

_Yoshino and Ino-chan stood, waiting impatiently to take picture of the new students with their backpacks and bentos before they walked over to school. True to form, as ever when a camera was around, Shikamaru was nowhere to be found. It would figure. He'd probably stroll up just when there was maybe enough time to make it to the school, but not enough for any snapshot. That sort of thing would appeal to both his laziness and strategic nature. It was like he thought capturing important moments (like the first day of school) wasn't important or something._

_When she saw her son shuffle up to them from the direction of, not the house, but the deer fields, it threw her. Even more confusing was what he held. Clenched between a fist, were wildflowers- daisies, baby's breath and even some of those wild roses that grew on the far side of their land._

"_Here," he'd muttered, shoving them at the little girl. Before he could make a move, Ino-chan had grabbed at the flowers, flung her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. She'd missed the kiss, but Yoshino had caught on film the beet-red face of her son a minute later, wiping his cheek with his sleeve, but smiling, as he stared at the blonde waving her little bouquet about. _

Inoishi really was a lousy father, Yoshino thought, laughing a little to herself, what with missing both his kid's first day of school and her first kiss. Well, okay, it really wasn't funny, especially since he'd since missed the kids' birthdays too, except for the fact it really was. Inoishi would have loved to play the role of an over-dramatic, soap-opera-like, overbearing father in the face of his daughter's first kiss. And he'd missed it in the name of a mission. It was moments like those that made her glad she'd retired from being a ninja. How could one stand being away on missions, if one had to miss moments like that, watching your son's serious face as he hands out flowers, listening to his serious, little voice muttering, " These are for you, since you were scared. But it's okay. I'll be there." Moments like those were too precious to miss.

It was enough to make a mother's heart break, realizing how in five years your child has grown. Yoshino sighed, and went back to sorting. The years were going by so fast; she needed those photographic memories more than ever now.


	4. Something Ugly Like Goodbyes

Title: A Rose Bloomed Chapter Four: Something Ugly Like Goodbyes

Author: hungrytiger11

Characters/pairings: Yoshino/Shikaku, Ino, Inoishi, Shikamaru

Summary: Everybody makes mistakes sometimes

The dead silence that filled the Nara main room in wake of the Yamanakas' departure was a little oppressive, and Shikaku couldn't tell if it was because they were all just missing Ino-chan's chatter, or if everything just seemed quieter now that his wife was no longer screaming.

When the ruckus had first started up, he'd hightailed it out of the house with the two little ones in tow. It was one thing to man up and stay while your wife was yelling at your really stupid friend. It was another to let little kids hear fighting. Especially since Ino-chan would have thought it was all her fault, when it wasn't, really. Wasn't anyone's fault_, really_. Inoishi was just still aching from loneliness, and trying to find any way he could to fill it up the hole in his heart, whether it was drinking with buddies, burying himself in long-term mission work, or dating anything with two X-chromosomes. A man could stand many things, but Shikaku didn't know how he'd suffer through losing Yoshino, so it was hard begrudge Inoishi aching for his dead wife. It was just, as Yoshino had commented to him often enough, not having a mother was hard. Not having a father around too, even if he was bodily there in front of you, was even harder. So, just this once, he'd let Yoshino get away with railing at his friend, and merely took the children away.

He'd let them go at one another for an hour and half before finally breaking the pair up. Yoshino yelled at you if she loved you; letting you know you were acting dumb was how she showed she cared. Still, most of what she said likely fell on deaf ears. Call it gut instinct, but he'd guessed Inoishi had not been in the mood for that sort of affection. So Shikaku'd let them go just enough to get this fight out of Yoshino's system before returning home and unleashing the five year olds back upon them. Fortunately, both adults had stopped when the small pair launched back into the room (well, more accurately, when _Ino _had launched back into the room, dragging Shikamaru behind). _Unfortunately,_ with only a terse 'bye,' Inoishi had scooped up his offspring and headed for the door.

And now here they were, watching the Yamanakas walk down the darkened street away from the Nara household, which was now one less resident than before. Ino was going home. Shikaku sighed a little. He wasn't sure when the two blondes would be back. Wasn't gonna be anytime soon, unless he very much missed his guess. Some pretty hard words had been spoken, and Inoishi wasn't one to forgive _or _forget easily. Which was too bad. He had a feeling they were all going to miss the girl, but still, it was good to have father and daughter reunited. Inoishi would get over it. Eventually.

"She doesn't remember her room."

The tone was low and even, but Shikaku thought he knew his son well enough to sense the underlying worry. Yoshino turned to look at the boy, dark, heavy hair falling over her shoulder. Meanwhile, through the window, he could see his friend scoop up his daughter and take to the rooftops.

"Shikamaru, what are you doing?"

At these words, Shikaku turned. That was not a usual question. His son was normally so lazy. He didn't bother getting into trouble- too much trouble to get back out of it again.

"She wanted to stay here," the little boy continued on, ignoring his mother's dangerous tone.

"That vase was a gift from my grandmother. If you break it, young man, you are going to be in. Very. Big. Trouble."

She took quick steps towards the sink and their son, who was trying to lift the too-full glass vase out from under the faucet. It was a sign of how distracted both had been that Shikamaru had even managed to get into the cupboard without their noticing, let alone take anything out. Yoshino's fingers closed around the slippery neck, pulling it down, as Shikamaru lifted up, and both fumbled. Water sloshed out, drenching them. The vase hit the metallic sink with a high-pitched cracking sound.

"Don't move," Shikaku's voice rang out across the room. Yoshino grabbed their son's shoulders to steady herself and stop him from touching any glass. With a few long strides, Shikaku crossed the room and was through the kitchen doors. He grabbed the broom and dustpan from the pantry and started sweeping up the shattered glass on the floor.

Without lifting his eyes from his work, he began to question his son, "What were you doing with this vase, Shikamaru? You know you aren't suppose to touch your mother's things in the kitchen."

Shikamaru struggled against Yoshino's iron grip on his shoulders. Beady eyes glared up at Shikaku when he turned to wait for his son's answer.

"She didn't want to go."

The intensity was unusual from his son, and his face had a look of anger rather than the more common one of annoyance. Still, hurt or not by the girl's departure, that did not give him leave to start acting up. The very fact that it was he, and not his mother, who was questioning him, should have alerted Shikamaru to the amount of trouble he was in.

"I didn't ask," Shikaku continued slowly. "What Ino-chan wanted. I asked what you were doing with this vase, Shikamaru."

The boy mumbled something and made an aborted gesture with his arms. The movement caused a rustling noise that attracted Shikaku's attention though, and he glanced down. Shikamaru's arms were covered in scratches that he guessed the boy had somehow gotten when he took the kids out to the deer field. The dark must have disguised them on the walk home. He wondered vaguely, if Ino-chan was sporting scratches too. In his son's hands was a clump of flowers, or possibly, weeds.

Suddenly, things were starting to click. Wasn't any use in having the Nara brains, if you weren't going to use them, Shikaku chided himself. Still, it was always nice to get confirmation on a theory before acting on it. Trying a different approach, Shikaku knelt down, to look eye to eye with his son. In a much calmer voice he asked, "What's in your hands?"

Above him, he could feel Yoshino's eyes on them, as she looked down to see what her husband was referring too. Shikamaru must have felt them too, because after a moment he lifted up his hand to give her a clearer view. A second look revealed the flowers to be mostly roses, the wild ones that grew out on the field unless he was very much mistaken. The thorny stems his son was very carefully gripping even now, was probably what had given him those scratches.

"These are for Mom. Well, and you too, I guess, Dad. She didn't say," Shikamaru looked up at them. "They're from Ino. A thank you gift."

"Oh," Yoshino's voice was strangely tight, as if startled to be reminded of the little girl she'd been worrying about all evening. " That was very sweet of her-"

Shikamaru cut her off.

"Wasn't sweet. They're ugly."

Yoshino's hands dropped off her son's shoulders and snatched the roses out of his hands. "Shikamaru, that's not very nice."

"Well, they are. They mean…. Something. Something not nice. Ugly. Like good byes."

"Like good-byes?" Yoshino asked, confused.

"She had flowers like these when I picked her up. Said they were sad, and that her Dad wouldn't sell them 'cause of that."

Yoshino made a soft sound in the back of her throat and knelt down too, lightly gripping Shikamaru's arms to turn him around to face her. "I don't think these were meant to make us sad, Shika-kun. I think Ino-chan would want them to make you smile."

Shikaku sighed. This night had too many ups and downs, and now here they were, all of them knelt down on a floor that might still have glass shards about. He pushed himself up, joints creaking as he did. A ninja's life was hard on the body.

"Shikamaru," he said. "She's a big girl, almost done with her first year of school. She'll be fine. Head up to bed."

Shikaku wasn't sure if his son was entirely convinced, but his face lost the intense look. He merely nodded and moved towards the stairs.

"Oh, and Shikamaru, you're almost done with your first year of school too."

This came out as a statement, not a question.

"That's old enough to start making up for your mistakes. I want you to come up with three ways you can earn money to pay your mother back the cost of that vase. Then she can decide which one would be best for you to do. Sound fair?"

His little face crumpled at the thought of so much work, but he nodded and turned around to climb the stairs.

Shikaku sighed, and turned back around to finish sweeping up glass. Kids these days. They were growing up too fast, both his son and little Ino-chan. He wondered if right now Inoishi was discovering just how much his little girl had changed in the year he'd been away. Of course, Shikaku reflected, he didn't even have the excuse of being away. Shikamaru was managing to surprise him, and he was around his son most of the time. It would be interesting to see what ideas he'd come up with to make up for the shattered vase. If his son was smart, something that earned a lot of money, but took little work. Yes, that sounded like Shikamaru all over.

Ah, well. He'd find out soon enough, that was for sure. This night had been troublesome enough. Time to call it quits.

"Coming to bed, soon?" he called over his shoulder, and was pleased to see Yoshino blush. He smiled a little at that pretty picture. Still had it in him after all these years. Okay, so maybe this night wasn't all bad after all. Dropping the contents of the dustpan into a bin, Shikaku followed his wife's swaying hips to the bedroom where maybe they could forget about this night.


	5. Blue As

**Title: **A Rose Bloomed Chapter 5: Blue As

**Author:** hungrytiger11

**Rating:** G

**A/N: **Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji are all seven-eight in this, and it is shortly before Ino meets Sakura.

**Disclaimer: **I do not profit from this, nor do I own Naruto, nor any related image etc.

**Summary: **Friendship is tricky. It is as much about the secrets we share as the secrets we keep.

* * *

Ino traced the delicate edges carefully with the tip of her finger, and smiled to herself. These were beautiful, like cracked pieces of the sky- well, the sky as it normally was, not this yucky, grey one. Wait till she showed Daddy! Would it be possible though, to get them down? Before she could decide one way or the other, the wind carried the sound of voices up.

Getting a firm grip on the branch above her, Ino swung around to see who was coming. Far below her tree, she could make out two dark-headed boys. One had a long scarf whipping behind him in the wind, and the other's hair sprouted out the top of his head in an all-to-familiar riot of spikes. Ino giggled thinking from this distance, it looked like Shikamaru had a pineapple on top of his head, more than anything else. He would not be best pleased to know that!

Still though, what were those two doing here? True, she was, just barely, on Nara land, but, while the girls had had to stay late for kunoichi arts class, the boys had been dismissed mid-day. Come to think of it, both Chouji-kun and Shika had been missing even before that. Ino scowled thinking it was likely they'd been off skipping with that dog-boy Inuzaka-san, and Uzumaki-kun. She didn't know the Inuzaka clan member all that well; he was in different classes than Ino, but Uzumaki-kun always ended up with the same teacher as she and Shikamaru, much to her daddy's chagrin. So Shika really should have known better! She actually wasn't quite sure what Daddy disliked about the blonde so much, but he was loud and crude and if you stood too close to him at any given point, you were likely to end up the butt of some joke, so it wasn't hard to see why people mightn't like Uzumaki-kun. She'd learned that one the hard way, when her hair had ended up blue for a week. At least Chouji-kun had been sympathetic; Shikamaru'd found it particularly funny and she'd had a sneaking suspicion that Uzumaki-kun had not come up with the prank on his own.

Thinking about the incident still made her steamed- and embarrassed. Shaking her head, and raising her arm, she smiled a little. It had been over a year ago since then after all, and Uzumaki-kun, _and _Shikamaru_, and_ Chouji-kun _and _even Inuzaka-san had all been made to apologize to not only her, but also her daddy. Anyone brave enough to face Daddy deserved to be forgiven. Besides, this was too special not to show somebody.

"Hey," she called out, flagging down the duo that had become annoyingly inseparable. It made her a little envious that two people could be such good friends, and sometimes, very rarely, she might even admit it hurt a little. She'd known Shika first after all. Of course, Ino was friends with lots of people, and she was perfectly capable of doing brilliant things on her own too, so it didn't matter that she wasn't inseparable from someone. But brilliant or not on her own, she glowed a little at the thought of being able to share this with someone. She could just picture it now- Chouji'd look at her with admiration, and Shikamaru would smile that one real smile he hardly ever used, and then he'd come up with some plan to get the nest down and they'd go show Yoshino-san who'd give her a hug and a snack and tell her how much she missed having Ino around the house. Maybe she'd even get to spend the night because Yoshino missed her so much. It happened sometimes. And then she'd get to borrow Shikamaru's stuffed deer to sleep with and they'd all three- Shikamaru, Ino, and Deer-chan- get to put out blankets under Shika's window and fall asleep watching the moon. It was one of her earliest and best memories, falling asleep that way, and when they woke the first thing they'd see was a sky as blue as the robin eggs she was going to show the two boys.

That is, if they'd look up.

"HEEEEY!" She called louder this time, so the sound wasn't swallowed by wind and distance. The shout caused them to stop and look around. She bet Shikamaru was squinting his eyes and muttering "troublesome" while doing it too!

"Up, here! I'm up here!"

Searching eyes found her, and Chouji-kun started yelling up at her, even while moving closer to her tree. It took her a minute to make out what he was saying with the wind blowing the leaves all about.

"Ino! How'd you get up there?"

Ino scrambled down the branches, watching as they approached her tree.

"I climbed of course-duh!"

"We got that. What Chouji means is how did you get past all the thorns?" Shikamaru asked once they were close enough not to be yelling. He hated yelling; thought it took too much energy he'd told her once.

"What thorns?"

Shikamaru rolled her eyes at her. "Those thorns. All the rose bushes under the tree. What'd you do? Forget about them? Or are you stuck?"

Ino glanced back down and blushed. Oh. Those thorns. In summer, they bloomed and the herds of deer thought they were quite the delicacy, but without the colorful blooms they did tend to escape her mind once she was past them.

"I jumped," she muttered.

Chouji-kun's eyes widened. "Ino-chan, you couldn't have jumped past all those. Did you use charka? Kaname-sensei said we weren't to use any charka outside of school!"

She scowled, and felt the blush deepen. "Like you two are ones to talk! I know you skipped class again today!"

Chouji-kun at least had the grace to blush too, his cheeks turning pink and his swirls turning an even darker, almost a purple shade. Shikamaru however looked unimpressed with the unspoken threat. He always seemed to know when she was bluffing. She loved his mother very much, but wouldn't stick an angry Yoshino-san on anyone!

"Ino," he said, "Skipping's not going to hurt anything. What if you'd been hurt doing that?"

"But I'm not," Ino pouted. "Come up! I've got something to show you!"

"How?" Chouji-kun questioned, and Ino flashed him a mischievous grin before scrambling back up the branches.

"Jump."

* * *

Shikamaru's body whirled past him, just as Ino-chan's legs disappeared from view. Chouji was never quite sure how either of his friends managed to pick up these sorts of things so quickly. He thought about maybe just waiting them out, or perhaps trying to kick the thorns out the way, when he looked up to see Shikamaru waiting with his hand out-reached. Screwing up his eyes shut, he concentrated on remembering what Kaname-sensei said and felt the heat of charka building up in his legs. Taking a deep breathe before his courage left him, he took off towards the tree with a running jump, and when he'd opened his eyes, he'd landed with a thump, a full two branches higher than Shikamaru.

"All right there, Chouji?" he asked in that deeply ironic tone he sometimes used, and Chouji knew that his best friend was amused, and a little frustrated, Chouji had underrated his own skills yet again.

"Yeah," Chouji replied, rubbing the back of his head. "Let's go!"

Ino-chan was far above them, a small and acrobatic blur. They had to make their way up following more the sounds of her rustling and the falling leaves rather than watching which way she was going. Looking at her go so gracefully, it was hard to imagine she was named after a boar- till you ran up against her pigheadedness Shikamaru said.

By the time they'd caught up with her, they were all three far, far higher than Chouji had ever been before, even counting the times his dad had carried him over rooftops when the two of them were in a hurry. It would be just like Ino-chan, Chouji reflected, to choose one of the tallest trees around. This had to be even higher than the city gates!

Ino-chan was out on the branch, with one hand gripping an overhanging limb for balance as she knelt over something Chouji couldn't see. This was probably what she'd wanted to show them, but whether it was something cool or disgusting, was hard to say. Her hair was blowing about too much to see her face. Shikamaru jerked his chin, gesturing for Chouji to go on head while he followed up after. Grabbing the next branch up, Chouji was somewhat reassured that it was too thick to fit entirely in his grip. It would hold all their weight for sure then.

Closer now, he could see the blonde was gazing at something small and twiggy, her free hand hovering just to the side of whatever-it -was, ghosting the edges but not out-right touching. It wasn't until he was nearly on top of her, he could make out a glimpse of color and finally make sense of what he was looking at- robins' egg shells, delicately shaped, boldly colored and unbelievably small. Chouji smiled, looking at them and then back up at little Ino-chan. He felt like he had just swallowed a secret.

* * *

Shikamaru watched Chouji haul himself up between two branches and out of sight. Huffing a little, he glanced at the form of Ino, partially obscured by wavering leafs. Dad said Mom was a frustrating woman, and no doubt about it, she was. It was lucky he knew Ino would never do something so… straight-laced and prattish as telling on him and Chouji. School was boring beyond belief, but if his mom found out he'd skipped -again- she would be a holy terror and his bum might never be the same. But still, no matter what Mom could do to him or what she had done (and might still do) to Dad, no way could anybody hold a candle to the amount of trouble Ino was.

What had she been doing way out in their deer fields in the first place, let alone way up here on her own? With weather like this, not even he wanted to be outside, cloud-gazing or not.

Bark scrapped against his knees and palms as he followed Chouji up. When he lifted his head, he saw his two friends had stopped moving and were both staring at something he couldn't see.

He started towards them, and began deliberately making loud rustling noises when it became clear Chouji might not move for him. That still didn't catch his friend's attention, and he wondered if the rustling couldn't be heard over the whistling air. But then Ino looked up at him, and carefully maneuvered around what they were looking at in order to face him, pulling Chouji into her original position. Watching her step onto a different branch slightly above their own made him a little nervous. The bough she stepped onto was barely as wide as one of Ino's feet, and buckled ever so slightly with her weight.

Still, he saddled up behind Chouji and peered around to take a look at what Ino had to share with them.

Down, nestled in against two smaller limbs, was a nest barely the size of Ino's hand. That was pretty impressively small really, considering Ino was the smallest student in their class. Inside the nest were broken robins' eggs. They'd probably been there a long time- since spring, and it was fall now. But somehow, no storm had dislodged them. They were so small and so blue just like-

"They are the same color as your eyes, Ino-chan!" Chouji breathed. Ino blushed and flashed him a pleased smile- not one of her fake I'm-glad-you-are-pleased-with-me smiles she was always giving the teachers or her dad, but a real one, small and showing just the barest hint of teeth.

Even from his vantage point over Chouji's shoulder, he could see his friend's cheeks redden, and he felt inexplicably annoyed.

"Why are you whispering?"

The Akimichi tried to angle his head around to see his friend, but couldn't quite make it.

"Well, I dunno…" he replied, "It just… seems special, doesn't it?"

"That's troublesome," he muttered, wishing vaguely Chouji was not there, so then no one else would notice the color, and it could be a secret thought, one he could pretend wasn't there. But, it was pretty special, he supposed. He was about to say so when a fistful of leaves came flying at his face. Spitting out a stray leaf, he looked over at the girl directly across from him.

"Don't listen to him, Chouji-kun," Ino said the words lightly, pretending to tease, but her eyes had a hard, broken-glass look that reminded him of the first day he'd met her. He was about to apologize when she went on, "He's just too dumb to see how special this is."

The words he'd been about to say stuck in his mouth, and his eyes narrowed.

"I'm dumb? That stupid nest isn't worth breaking your neck over."

"No one's going to get a broken neck," Ino bit out, a little more hurt this time. "Quit saying things like that, Shikamaru. You're gonna scare Chouji-kun."

Chouji bristled at that. "Hey! I'm not scared! I can get up here just as well as you or Shikamaru can!"

Before anyone could reply to that, the branch swayed in a sudden gust of wind, pitching Shikamaru forward with a yelp. As he stumbled, he knocked Chouji off to the side, who put one foot down through leafs into empty air below and went crashing to his knees. But it was Ino's sudden gasp, just barely audible over the wind, that brought both boys' horrified gazes up. Short as she was, she'd been unable to keep her grip when the branch she stood on groaned and rocked to the side. For one terrifying moment it looked like she was going to fall. Her back hit the branch below, knocking the air out of her, before sliding off the side. Her arms flailed out, twisting to try and gasp the limb. It was too thick to get a firm grasp around, and she scrapped against the bark, trying to pull herself right ways up, to get on top of the branch instead of hanging on from below.

Both boys flung out their arms, but Ino ignored their too-short reaches. Shikamaru managed to scoot himself up enough to grab at her back, but it was mostly unneeded by that time, as she hauled herself up and around. Pulling himself up to a sitting position, he hugged her tightly, her back to his chest. They stayed like that for an instant, before the Yamanaka scooted herself around to face the two boys.

"Well, that was exciting, wasn't it?" she said in a strangely high voice. "But it was worth it to see-"

And then she stopped, staring at him.

"It's ruined," she whispered, reaching out and picking bits of twig and chips of eggshell off his chest. Whipping his head back, Shikamaru saw, he'd smashed the nest. He'd probably missed it in the initial fall, but had wrecked it when inching his way toward Ino.

"You ruined it."

Shikamaru jerked his head back around. Well, sure he'd-! But then she'd been-!

"Stupid! How can you be thinking about that?"

His only answer was her, pushing her hands off from his chest, as both of his friends continued to stare at him. There might even, a part of him was troubled to see, have been tears starting. But that was ridiculous; Ino didn't cry. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Didn't she understand?

"I was trying to save you, you stupid girl! What would have happened if you'd been blown off this?"

Blue eyes hardened, and Ino struggled to get into a standing position, completely ignoring the hand he'd automatically thrust out to help her.

"I was fine! I AM fine! And I'm not some stupid girl! I don't need to be saved; I can do it on my own!"

Shikamaru suddenly found he was fighting back tears of his own, and all that just made him madder.

"Are to stupid; it was dumb to even come up here in the first place," he ground out.

Ino gripped the branch above tighter and reached out to step over him.

"Then why did you, huh?" At least she was losing her battle not to cry; it felt strangely good to see he was hurting her right back, after all her ungratefulness and _stupidity_.

"To keep you from getting hurt! You're so troublesome, I knew you would get hurt, but I thought you'd fall into the thorns. Even you should have enough sense not to climb this high – but no-o! Little Miss Perfect Ino-hime's too dumb to even realize not to that!"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Ino stopped moving towards the way back down, and looking at her shaking back, Shikamaru realized she was out-and-out, full-on sobbing. And that wasn't as good of a realization as it had been a second ago. This was tough-as-nails, best-grades-in-the-class Ino, who hardly ever cried let alone sobbed, Ino, who hadn't cried when she'd been stabbed in the arm one kunai practice, or when his mother had lost them that time at the market, or when her father had announced he was marrying his latest store clerk, or even two weeks later when the store clerk broke it off, and not even when Naruto'd pulled off that prank he'd suggested and Ino's long hair had ended up blue. Ino never cried except when someone let her down, and up till now the only person on that list was her father. She'd only cried those times that he'd left her. Shikamaru had always felt that fact had secretly given him license to hate Inoichi-san, but now Ino was crying, sobbing, because of him.

Chouji pulled himself up and moved towards the distraught girl, being careful even then to keep a tight grip, in case the wind should come up again.

"Ino?"

"Its just-t - I was go-o-ing t-to ask- help- g-g-getting it dow-n-n - and-and-and Daddy was going-g- and Yoshino-sa-a-an - di-inn-er." They were just able to catch bits and pieces between each gulping sob, and Shikamaru felt shame twisting down through him. "-So-o pretty -and-and- stay the-e night- Dee-e-er-ch-chan-n- I-I-I…"

Ino gulped down air, and her words dissolved into a quiet murmur as she worked to get her breathing under control. Chouji, looking singularly uncomfortable, patted her back mechanically and offered, " Um, do you want to stay the night, um, at my house, Ino-chan?"

Shikamaru sighed, picked the last of any twigs off his vest, and stood up. It was hard to be positive, but he thought he had an idea of what she'd been trying to say. He put his chin down on her shoulder and muttered, "You can tell my mom if you want. I won't get made at you."

Ino shook her head back and forth, her loose hair brushing against his cheek.

"No, you don't want to spend the night at Chouji's, or no, you won't tell my mom?"

Ino swallowed, "Both."

Ino brought up her hands so that they rested on the boys' arms and they stood there for a moment, locked in a three-way hug, broken only when Ino let out a dry laugh.

"That was sort of scary, wasn't it?" she asked.

"Humph. Troublesome, more like," Shikamaru replied, looking away, back towards where she had nearly fallen.

"But the nest was neat, Ino-chan," Chouji added. Shikamaru smiled at that.

"Yeah," he agreed. "It was."

One by one they slid back down the branch, and, as Shikamaru went to follow the others' descent, he could already hear Chouji waxing lyrical on the topic of hot tea and dangos. Grabbing ahold of the branch, he wondered how annoyed his mom would be at his inviting unannounced guests over. Not too mad, he decided. It was just Ino and Chouji after all, and food sounded good…


	6. These Memories Beneath My Ribs

Title: These Memories Beneath My Ribs

Author: Hungrytiger11

Summary: Later, he would push this whole memory away, along with the mystery of the Uchihas, which would come to remind him uncomfortably of this moment.

* * *

The first news came at six, a deliberately loud shuffling of feet that knocked against the door as someone entered. The bell must have bounced against the wooden frame, for the "customer" had it clasped in his hand when Inoichi entered the room. Behind him, the sun was low but the light brilliant, and as the nin stepped further into the shop, making no pretense of glancing at the wares, the light reflected off his forehead protector, momentarily blinding Inoichi.

"The Uchihas are dead."

It took a moment to force those words through his head.

"How many?"

That's not the question he really wondered about, but it's the one you are always trained to ask first.

"Every one of them."

"What?"

"Well," the man corrected himself. "Not quite."

* * *

By mid-morning the door was constantly in use as murmurs swept through his store. If any of those voices were actually here to do business, he'd be regretting letting that last store clerk leave after she complained his "amorous advances" made her uncomfortable. The price he paid, Yoshino-san was always scolding, the price he paid, but it was not going to be paid today. Still, Inoishi thought as he turned at the sound of the shop bells banging against the doorframe yet again, he should really remember to put up a hiring notice in the papers again.

"Uchiha Itachi is still ensconced in the Hokage's Tower. From what we've been able to gather, the Hokage and the several of his advisors are keeping him there. The whole place is locked down. No one in; no one out." A voice whispered low as the shinobi slouched down, elbows against the counter. Strands of curly hair fell over her shoulder as she bowed her head lower and pretended to examine a small hand-rake on the counter.

"Hyuuga-san sends his greetings, by the way. Said Ibiki-san wasn't there to give his greetings too. He wasn't at the tower."

No formal interrogation, then? What was the Hokage up to?

Well, whatever it was, he was sure Ibiki would devour any scrap of information he could find. Sometimes you had to protect your leaders even from themselves, as the head of the Investigation and Interrogation unit liked to say.

"Ko-kun see anything else?"

The woman turned to him, eyes flashing an odd shade of red.

"No, but he couldn't stay long. His clan has been busy today."

"Ah," he breathed as the bell beat against the door again. Seeing the counter's shadow lengthen, Inoishi continued, without looking up, "Are they the ones who will be performing _kotsu__-age _then?"

"Not all," Shikaku interrupted, striding up to the counter. "That's what you were going to say, wasn't it, Kurenai-kun?"

The chuunin managed a half-sided grin that didn't _quite_ crack her face in two. He wondered idly if there were any Uchiha in particular she would be in mourning for.

"Perceptive, as always, Nara-san. Inoishi-san, I don't think I will buy that rake today, but I might be back in a day or two. I can always hope for a sale, yeah?"

Inoishi waved her out. He didn't care if Shikaku was there to see any of their "transactions," but if she did, he wouldn't get anymore out of her.

"Business looks busy," Shikaku observed, surveying the shelves' disarray. He was right and wrong, of course. Informants got paid; they didn't spend money. But then, he didn't make his living selling flowers either.

"So, who's taking part in the _kotsu-age_?"

The Uchiha Clan, until approximately ten-thirty P.M. yesterday evening, had been one of the largest clans in Konoha, enough to man the entire police force. This morning they were, if rumors were to be believed, one little boy and his sociopath of an older brother. Making sure last rites were performed was going to be problematic, to say the least.

Shikaku flicked off ash from his cigarette and Inoichi suppressed an urge to roll his eyes. His friend hated feeling he was, as he put, "one of your little peeping toms." Some people had no respect for the less clean side of the business they were in.

"Clan Hyuuga is doing most of it," Shikaku finally admitted, grudgingly. "They are the closest kin left, and no one can even remember how far back it was to when their clans were one. Still, Hiashi-sama's requested aid. There are too many, so he asked that any teammates or students of Uchiha shinobi consider performing this duty."

He took another drag and exhaled smoke before continuing, "S'why I'm here, actually. I need some stuff for a funeral alter."

Inoichi gave him a quizzical look.

Shikaku scowled in annoyance, scars twisting up his face. "Its Yoshino- her genin cell."

"Oh, yeah! That shorty who kept threatening to shuiken your ass to a wall if you broke Yoshino-san's heart. She was a firecracker." Inoichi let out a dry laugh at the memory, before suddenly recalling that firecracker was most likely found in a bloody heap on the street this morning.

"Just a couple bouquets of white carnations, yeah? Yoshino wanted to mainly use some of our roses."

"Bit unorthodox," Inoichi observed.

Shikaku shrugged, pulling out money to pay.

"But appropriate, I suppose," he finished pushing both the bills and flowers back into his old friend's arms.

* * *

The hand in his squirmed a little, and he gripped on tighter. It'd be a nightmare if he lost Ino in this crowd.

"Daa-ad, why do I have to wear this? It itches," she complained, jerking at the collar. Her pulling left the black fabric hanging lopsidedly, and even considering the circumstances, Inoishi twitched a slight smile. His little girl was just the cutest thing, no contest.

Reaching down to try and fix her rob one-handedly while still keeping up their pace, he answered, "Because, sweetheart, we're going to a funeral, and this is what we wear at a funeral."

He peered over the heads of an increasingly crushing crowd, straining to find Shikaku or Chouza. That might have been them under the far tree; he wouldn't put it past Shikaku to be lazy even at a funeral. Or possibly they were over by the filling rows of people. Even as tall as both his former teammates were, it was hard to make anything out in this sea of black. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Ino sticking out her tongue again. "I don't wanna go, though. Its gonna be boooring."

People's heads started to turn, and Inoishi realized with dim embarrassment, that her voice was carrying even over the noise of the crowd.

"Ino," he said severely, yanking her along. "This is a funeral. Someone has died. Several someones. You will be respectful."

Ino's eyes widened, and glistened with moisture. Inoichi frowned slightly; he must have been a bit too rougher.

"But why do we have to go?" she questioned softer than before.

Inoishi signed and pulled them into a closed store's doorway. 'Uchiha Grocers,' he noted absently. Wouldn't be open again.

"Ino," he said gripping her. "Ino, a lot of people… have died. They are no longer with us anymore, like your mama. Papa and Shikaku-ojisan, and Chouza-ojisan knew some of these people. One of them you knew too. Remember, Yashiro Uchiha? Mama's old jounin-sensei? He use come over and bounce you his knee. We need to honor Yashiro-san. Do you think you can do that?"

His daughter screwed up her face. After a minute she looked up at him.

"I don't remember Yosh-san," she admitted, obviously a little doubtful of her father's statements.

"Yashiro-san" he corrected absently. "You were pretty young, just a baby. He came over to help me out sometimes after your mama died. Will you be a good girl for me?"

Short flanks of hair draped across her face, and she bobbed her head down.

"Ok, Dad." Her voice was soft and she gingerly put her hand in his.

By the time they'd finally arrived, all but the back rows were filled, and Inoishi grit his teeth a bit. He hadn't lied to Ino about why they were here, exactly. Yashiro-san had been very good to Aiko as a sensei and had been very good to him too, helping with both Ino and his clan's affairs after Aiko and most of the rest of the Yamanka clan had been picked out of the debris eight years ago. It was only right they honor him now.

Still, it was hardly the only reason, hardly the main reason.

Curiosity might kill the cat, and it might kill the spy too, but there was just something wrong about this. Well, even more desperately wrong than just the decimation of a clan. After all, thanks to Kyuubi, he'd had some personal experience in that.

News'd come out yesterday. Uchiha Itachi had left the village under his own power and supposedly at the Hokage's will. He was to labeled a missing-nin, and they were to all leave it at that. If he hadn't known it was Uchiha _Shisui_ and not Uchiha _Itachi _who had powers all-to-similar to Inoichi's own, he would have said the Hokage'd had his brain fucked all up and down, to let a killer loose.

Then again, the Hokage, in all his infinity wisdom, had also let his wife's killer go free to roam the streets in a brat's body.

Fucking Hokage.

He worked to weave his way through the crowds, spotting Chouza, standing a head and shoulder above the rest. As they got closer, he could make out that the Nara family had already joined the Amikchi clan head, and both his old comrades had brought along their families.

"I told Sawako-chan she was to keep an eye on everyone," Chouza informed him in lieu of a greeting, as he gestured to his oldest daughter. Inoishi inclined his head.

"Awful good of you, though I'm sure Ino-chan will stay right here, right Ino?"

No answer, but he could make out furious whispers that he assumed were an exchange of greetings between the kids. A quick jerk of the arm had his daughter quieting down, as he took surveillance of the area before handing her their envelope for the family, so she could give the money when the time was right.

The ceremony itself moved along quite quickly, considering the number of people, and felt more like a memorial for a battle than just a regular funeral. Ino fidgeted beside him, twisting to get a better look at something, trying to peer out from between a sea of taller bodies.

"Who's that?" she asked in a rather loud whisper. Inoishi looked down to warn her again to quite down, only to find she wasn't talking to him.

"Who's that?" she repeated tugging on the boy next to her's shirt. The Nara boy, Inoishi identified quickly by the shock of dark hair sprouting from the top his head. Looked just like his father had at that age, poor kid. He was in for a long awkward phase.

And just like Shikaku would have, this little boy shrugged and grunted noncommittally.

Curious, Inoichi followed Ino's gaze to a rather pretty but dead-eyed child. So this was the Last Uchiha, huh? He attempted to drudge up anything he'd ever heard about the clan's spare to the heir, this second son.

Nothing.

All the talk had always been about the genius son, nothing about this little boy sitting so still before strangers, with no more family of his own. Well, the lack of talk would change soon enough he supposed. _Was_ changing, he silently corrected himself as he leaned down to answer his daughter, since no one else was inclined to.

"That's Uchiha Sasuke. His parents and all of his clan died. We're here at their funeral."

"So, he's all alone?" she whispered, only half-questioning.

"Yes," he answered, giving her hand a squeeze before pushing off his knees to stand.

It might have been all in his mind, but he was a Yamanaka, and he knew about minds, so he wasn't imaging what came murmuring up to him next.

"I know how that feels."

It startled something deep underneath his ribs, a place he wasn't accustomed to. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her what she meant, but, twisting around, something stopped him.

His daughter, with eyes that were sometimes so like her mother's and sometimes were so very not, was staring intensely at the Last Uchiha. And staring, no less intensely, at his daughter was Nara Shikamaru.

He watched as the boy made to grasp her hand, and he watched as she wrapped fingers around his. He watched as she dropped her other hand from his own.

But she never saw him watching, for she never turned her eyes from that broken little boy in the front row. He spent the rest of the funeral wondering what she saw where she looked, and hoping_, hoping_, he could forget this moment. Chafing his sweaty fingers against themselves, he wondered if he ever could.


	7. The Same Kind of Different As Me

Title: A Rose Bloomed Chapter Six: The Same Kind of Different As Me

Author: hungrytiger11

Summary:It might take years for us to see, but you are the same kind of different as me.

* * *

"-You, we need to wait for Ino," muffled voices suddenly bloomed into hazy but discernable conversation, and Sakura nearly ran into Ino as her newest friend stopped short of rounding the corner.

Ino turned back around, finger to her lips, and gave a wink. It looked kind of painful actually; the skin around her eye was already yellowing into the start of a magnificent bruise. Sakura frowned a little at that. She still wasn't sure she believed Sensei that there was nothing she could do to heal it. Weren't there such things as medic-nin? What did they do, if they couldn't even heal bruises? Sensei had probably lied, left the bruise as a reminder not to fight. Or maybe it was there to force Ino to confess to her parents about the fight. Sakura hadn't met any of Ino's family, but she knew her mom would go ballistic if she ever got into a fight- well, outside of sparring. Of course, her mom wanted her in civilian school looking at "safe" careers, so she'd use any excuse she could to yank her daughter out of Academy. Ino was part of a clan; no worry about if she should be a shinobi. Plus, didn't she say her dad was out of town right now?

A giggle brought Sakura back from her thoughts, focused her in on the conversation Ino was eavesdropping on.

"-Hungry!" as all she caught before a lazy, drawling voice called out to them.

"I know you're there Ino. You might as well come out. Chouji wants to get going."

Being found out caught her friend by surprise, and Sakura watched as Ino bit her lip. What could make Ino that nervous? Or maybe thoughtful was a better word. Ino didn't get nervous. She just didn't, from what Sakura could see. After a moment, the blonde moved around the corner and Sakura took a deep breath, feeling suddenly shy at the idea she was going to be introduced to people as _Ino's friend_.

Sure, these were Ino's friends too, so they'd doubtlessly be really _cool _and _good_ at _ninja stuff,_ but they'd be nice too, and not let anybody push them around. Ino could only ever be friends with people who didn't let certain _other _people- like certain ninja-wannabes who names begin with _A_ and rhymed with _Mi-san_- push them around. They would like her. They just _had_ to.

Sakura threw her head back, appreciating the way it felt swinging against her ribbon. If you acted like people should just automatically like you, they would. That's what Ino said. Be yourself. That was her mother's (often-repeated but still largely untested) advice. Feeling pumped up after her pep talk to herself, and she stepped forward- and straight into Ino's back.

Pitching forward, her feet tangled with Ino's and they tumbled down the path, collapsing in a heap. Spitting out a mouthful of hair (Ino's. Oops.), Sakura sighed. So much for appearing cool. What was it people were always saying about first impressions?

* * *

"What the hell happened to you? My mom's gonna freak!" Shikamaru grimaced, looking annoyed. Chouji started guiltily, wondering what he could be so upset about when all Chouji had asked was whether there'd be time to stop at a food stand, before he noticed that, while still laying down, his friend's attention wasn't on the sky anymore. Beady eyes where focused on something just beyond his right shoulder. Chouji twisted around to get a better look.

Oh. So that was what Shikamaru was talking about.

Ino-chan stood by the gate, shoulders thrown back defiantly, looking a little worse for the wear. Hair was scuffled and out of its usual clips, clothes were dirty, but what really stood out was the shiner already yellowing around her eye.

Before either boy had a chance to say any more though, something toppled into their friend, sending her and- well, whoever it was- flying across the path. Scrambling up and throwing his arms wide, Chouji managed to grab an limb, stopping their momentum, and sending them all to ground.

"Move, please," he wheezed, pushing the extra bodies off, his lungs flattened under Ino-chan's torso. Pushing himself up, he came face to face with Ino-chan as she reached a hand down to him.

"Ino-chan," he said, standing up and reaching out to poke gently at the bruising skin. "What happened?"

It looked even worse close up! She grimaced and slapped his hand away.

"Hands off, Chouji-kun. That hurts you know."

"You didn't answer the question, Ino," Shikamaru said from behind. Turning, Chouji could see his friend had managed to avoid the human bowling ball they'd all made a second ago. Shikamaru sat up and stared, a little accusingly, at the blonde.

Ino-chan didn't answer, only met his scowl with one of her own.

"She got into fight!" another voice piped up, a girl's but higher pitched and breathier than Ino-chan's ever was. Peeking out from behind Ino-chan was a little pink-haired girl. Well, that explained the red blurs that had crashed into him along with the Ino-chan-colored blurs. In fact, this girl even looked a little familiar, though he couldn't quite say why.

"You a student here?" he asked, staring at the unusual coloring of this girl. Pink? _Really?_ Poor kid, Chouji thought. People use to give him a hard time about his face markings till they saw it didn't bother him, or, more accurately, till Ino-chan told him he couldn't show that it bothered him. But face markings were nothing compared to pink hair! She had a high forehead too, now that he was looking. Heck, the girl practically had "tease me" stamped on that forehead of hers, what with all her unique looks. He wondered vaguely if Ino-chan had told this girl the same as she'd told him when a voice cut through his thoughts.

"Ino got into a fight?" Shikamaru's drawl was not exactly disbelief, but Chouji instinctually started edging to the side, out of the line of fire that was sure to start hailing down between his two friends.

"Shut up, Sakura!" Ino's cheeks reddened at the accusation. "It was nothing important. They don't want to hear about that."

"No," Shikamaru marched up to Ino-chan, fingers hovering very deliberately just above where Chouji had touched. "I think we do."

Ino-chan tucked her chin down and glared up at him. She'd grown, Chouji noted absently, the two were once again eye to eye, where the last knock-down, drag-out fight they'd had, Shikamaru had reduced her to tears by teasing her about her height, saying she only wanted to play with the people shorter than she was. Of course, at the time, Chouji'd been pretty sure Ino-chan had had other reasons for wanting to spar with that Uchiha kid, and that was why he was _really_ hoping the reasons she'd gotten beat up had nothing whatsoever to do with the "genius" of their class.

"It's none of your beeswax!"

"But," The pink-haired girl faltered and stared openly at Shikamaru and himself. "Isn't this that Nira kid and Chou-nii they were talking about?"

* * *

Sakura stared curiously at these two people who were in a strange mirror-image position to what she and Ino were in. One boy was uncomfortably close to Ino's face, examining her injuries, probably wondering why the teacher couldn't have fixed it, just as Sakura had. Then again, with _his_ expression, he might have been too annoyed to bother thinking about healing. Peering over his shoulder, as Sakura was peering over Ino's, was another little boy with brown hair sticking up in tufts and swirly markings Sakura just wanted to reach out and- pinch.

"Not _Nira_ and _Chou-nii_," Ino sighed, ignoring the eye rolling one boy was doing. "This is Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji. And," she continued, glaring back at the boy in front, "I'd introduce Sakura to you two, if you'd quit getting in my face. Honestly, straighten up! Can't you at least _try_ to look more presentable?"

This probably wasn't entirely fair, considering it was she and Ino who had just tumbled down the path. Still, the scolding seemed to set them straight! Huffing out air, Nara-san slouched back an inch or two while Akimichi -san waved at her. Leave it to Ino to take charge of a situation.

"People were talking? About us?" The dark-haired one- Nara-san, she thought- said.

Ino colored under his glare, eyes dropping to the ground. Oops. Sakura felt her own cheeks drain of blood. Guess she shouldn't have mentioned that?

"People don't know shit," Ino mumbled.

Sakura hissed franticly in her ear. "Don't use bad words!"

That sort of thing got your name on the board, and groundings and- if Sakura's mom were ever to hear that- a barring of her new best friend from the Haruno household. Neither of the boys seemed to react to the bad word- or any of Ino's words- at all though. The skinny one turned and took off down the street at a rate that was surprising considering stupid Ami-baka had been calling him a lazy-ass. They other three were left to take off behind him, looking, Sakura imagined, like a deranged kids' parade, as they all went bopping along behind one another with their school things bopping along too.

Finally catching up, Sakura was proud to note she was not a bit winded. Though, honesty made her admit, it's not like the kid had been running or anything just… fuming. Or at least that's what it seemed like, seeing as how this- Nira? Nara? _Whatever_- kid completely ignored them catching up. They walked along in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, till, unable to bear the awkwardness of it all, she turned to the other kid, the brown haired one, and asked if they were in the same class as Ino.

"Oh!" she exclaimed in excitement when –Amikici-san Amikii-san? No, _Akimichi__-san_ - nodded in affirmative. "Then you must know all about Sasuke-kun!"

Her grin widened and she felt herself practically skipping! Someone to drill! Ino was strangely tight-lipped about the boy, just saying he was good at school (Ha! Top scores her research showed!) and that he was quiet, having had a hard year previous. She still wasn't sure what that meant, but there were other questions first!

Jumping into investigative mode, she began throwing out any questions that came to mind, trying not get annoyed at the boy's unsure, stammered answers. Only the question about Sasuke-kun's lunch (a bento, rice balls, ill-made, some vegetables, and why, yes, of course anybody would appreciate a better bento being made for him.) seemed truly reliable.

"Oh! And! And! What about-"

"Oh look!" Akimichi i-san said loudly, "A food stand! I'm going to get something!"

And without another word, he took off, a strangely harried look on his face. What was up with that? Turning back to her other companions, Sakura was about to try to bridge the awkward silence that once again had descended when Nara-san turned and quietly exploded.

"My mom is gonna kill you!"

"Well," Ino grumbled. "It's all your fault anyway, if you weren't so damn lazy, and if Chouji-kun wasn't so freaking _fa_-!!"

Nara-san flung an arm around Ino, taking her down in a headlock and clamping his hand over her mouth. They held their position for a moment, glaring at each other till Akimichi-san came trotting back from the food stand and nearly tripped right over them.

"A-aah!" he complained, staring peevishly at the two. "You nearly made me drop my dango! Don't you think we've had enough of tripping over people today?"

"Anyway," Nara-san continued, releasing Ino as if nothing had happened. "It'll be troublesome, but there's really nothing for it."

* * *

Chouji wished his mouth wasn't so full of food. Ino-chan's crumbled, as all the bravado of earlier fell away in face of Yoshino-san's anger. Not that he'd want to be one the receiving end of that woman's temper either. The lectures to be endured! But you couldn't comfort with a mouth full of food- at least according to Ino-chan, you couldn't.

Oh well, he thought, quickly stuffing the last few bites into his mouth, sometimes you had to sacrifice savoring food for more important things.

"There's nothing you can think to do?" he asked, watching Ino-chan worry her bottom lip.

These stupid girls-only classes were really starting to suck. Nothing good came out of them. It hadn't been so bad when they'd done that cooking unit. That had had tasty results, but lately? Last week he'd had to listen on as Ino-chan babbled about flower meanings forever, and then on top of that Shikamaru had gotten into an argument with her saying that wasn't what _his_ dad said yellow roses meant. Or maybe it was pink ones they'd been talking about? Whatever. Some days it seemed like those two could argue about anything. In his opinion, if they had to sit through lectures on flowers, it was no wonder kunoichi numbers were so low. He'd have fled for the hills too. And this week was somehow even worse. He'd been nearly starved, then squashed by bony girls, then attacked some rabid Uchihha-fan and now Ino-chan was going to be chewed out by Yoshino-san and there was nothing any of them could do to help. He took it back. These stupid girls only class went beyond just sucking. Super-sucking maybe. Was that a word?

The pink-hair girl- Sakura-san, he thought-shifted uneasily.

"What about cosmetics?"

Cosi-_what?_

"Yohsino-san would notice that," Ino-chan replied. Beside her, Shikamaru nodded.

"Besides, unless you have any, we don't have any way to get make-up."

Make-up. Right. He knew that. Too bad it didn't help.

"She could stay with me," he volunteered, trying not to think how an unexpected guest might affect dinner proportions. "Or at, um…Sakura-san's."

"After the fuss my mom's been putting up about getting to see 'her Ino-chan' again?"

Shikamaru slide down a nearby wall to the ground.

"Besides," Ino-chan added, cheeks reddening, "I was looking forward to seeing Deer-chan again?"

She made the last part a question, her voice lifting up at the end, and Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "I should just give you that stupid thing."

"Deer-chan?" Sakura-san said.

"Um-nothing!"

"What about getting it, you know, fixed? Like a medic. Don't they do that?" Sakura-san tried again.

"We don't know anybody who does medic-stuff and the hospital's for serious injuries," Shikamaru objected. Sakura-san's face dimmed at this pronouncement and she didn't offer any more suggestions. Chouji couldn't think of any either, and neither Ino-chan nor Shikamaru had offered any ideas at all. Ino-chan _always _had some clever idea or another to wrap a teacher around her finger, or to for getting them an extra hour before bedtime on sleep-overs, or for getting back at the kids who teased other people (or at boys who dyed her hair blue, as they'd found out once). And as for Shikamaru- his plans weren't _clever _exactly; they were more- brilliant. They always worked. So, if they didn't have any hint of an idea now, he guessed that must mean there really wasn't any way out for Ino-chan. He cringed in sympathy, but before he could say anything Shikamaru sighed and stood up.

"No other choice I guess. You'll just have to tell my mom why you were fighting."

Beside him, Ino-chan gasped. Chouji chewed the inside of his cheek. What now?

"Wait, what were you-"

"You'd really let me do that?" Ino-chan interrupted him. Shikamaru reddened, confusing Chouji even more, and reached a hand up to the back of his head.

"It'll be a drag, but there's no other choice, is there? Besides, my folks'd know if you were lying."

"Still,"Ino-chan murmured, and when Chouji glanced over she was red in the face too. He was definitely missing something; he was just about to open his mouth to ask when-

"Um, now that that's settled, which way do you guys go? I'm this way."

Chouji felt his stomach drop. Sakura-san was pointing the same way he took. Maybe if he just took the long way-

"Chouji-kun's that way too!" Ino-chan beamed at her friend. She just had to open that big mouth of hers, didn't she? "We're going this way, but at least you still have a friend to talk to, right?"

Sakura-san beamed back. Okay, she did have kind of a nice smile. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad.

"Oh! So we can finish our conversation, right Akimichi-san? You didn't answer my last questions!" And with that she grabbed him by the arm and started yanking him away. So much for 'not too bad.' Why did Ino-chan have to make friends with a Uchiha nut?

He tried a last-ditch effort to make eye contact with Shikamaru, in hopes getting saved, but Shikamaru was too busy talking to Ino-chan.

"Will your mom be really annoyed, do you think?" he heard Ino-chan ask as the pair turned down another street.

"Why are we still talking about this? What a drag. Anyway, did you really want to see Deer-chan that much? I should just-" but what else Shikamaru should just do was lost to the sounds on the busy street, as they turned a corner and disappeared from view.

Chouji sighed and turned back to the girl at his side.

"I dunno. Maybe Uchiha-san likes target practice the best?"

It was going to be a long walk home.

* * *

A/N: I finally got back to this story! Anyway, I try to leave in-text timeline clues, but in case this is no clear, this is taking place a bout a year or so after the last chapter, so Ino's class are all about nine.


	8. Try

Title: A Rose Bloomed Chapter 8- Try

Author: hungrytiger11

Characters: Ino, Inoichi

Summary: The night before she became a genin, his daughter decided to turn into a full-fledged, hormonal teenager. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Technically, they wouldn't know till the next day. But did that mean they should act as if there was any question about how it would all end up? Who could deny what worked so well? Even years later, when a team was needed, who did Chouza ask for, but Shikaku, and himself? Who's skills did Shikaku always know best how to place in any tactic the Hokage might need from him? Whose information did Inoichi most trust? What worked once would work again.

It wasn't even a question, and that was what had Ino so pissed.

_Talk to her_, Yoshino-san had insisted, while Shikaku and Chouza politely averted their eyes in a way that meant they were listening and agreeing with every word exchanged. And not for the fist time, did Inoichi wish he better knew how to be a parent to his daughter, as Aiko would have, because then maybe tonight wouldn't be playing out this way. He needed sleep tonight. Spies were at their borders and he had to deal with them tomorrow. But sleep wasn't going to happen. Instead, he was stuck with a hormonal daughter.

So, long before Shikaku or Chouza were anywhere near drunk, even before all of the meat was gone and before the plates had been cleared, he handed Shikaku a fist full of bills and said, "Take care of my share of the cost, will you?"

He didn't bother to wave her over, but Ino slipped out from between the two boys who would soon be her teammates, and followed silently behind him. Her eyes were red rimmed, and he regretted he hadn't sat closer to the children's end of the table to hear what insult had been passed. Or maybe that look just meant she was dreading a lecture. She should be, given how she behaved, just as he should be giving one because he didn't raiser her to act that way. Instead, they moved in silence, and in less than fifteen minutes made it to their house.

"Grab your pillow and some blankets from inside," he told her as they passed through the gate. She nodded in understanding, and, still not talking, headed to the house. Inoichi himself walked around to the far side of the yard, where an old, "standard" pack sat slumped where the fence formed a corner. The whole thing had been inexpertly tied the last time it was used, and, he when reached for it, poles and stakes came tumbling out, hitting the dirt with soft thuds. Remembering Ino had been the one to put the camping supplies away last time, Inoichi sighed, and took what hadn't fallen out over to the center of the yard before returning for the rest. By the time he was half way through setting up the tent, Ino was back, feet dragging and a frown on her face.

"I have to be up early tomorrow."

There was a certain whine in her voice. Inoichi pretended not to notice.

"Not as early as me; you'll be fine."

"I don't see why we're doing this."

Yoshino-san had told him Ino tended to be like fire, with a temper that flared up but then sizzled out. Ino'd gotten into fights, thrown temper tantrums on the Nara living room floor, and once yelled at a teacher for ten minutes before bursting into tears and apologizing. He'd heard the stories and knew the witnesses, but had never seen it himself. Ino's anger towards him had never been anything but this: a slow burn, something boiling under a lid of choked words, and never fully expressed.

"I like camping out with my girl," he responded, deliberately missing her real point. Strategically, there are fewer places for Ino to run to avoid his questions at a campsite, even if it's only in their yard. And besides, he liked sleeping outside more than almost anything. Made him feel closer to Aiko to be close to the stars, and further away from succumbing to the same sort of death she did, crushed under the rubble of buildings in a an attack on their city. He liked waking at night to see his wife's eyes staring down as stars, and hearing his little girl's breathing beside him, and smelling the embers burn. In a place like this, he was home.

Ino rolled her eyes at him, but needed no prompting to get to work with a fire. When Ino was younger, they did the whole backyard-camping-night while roasting marshmallows, waiting until the last second to take their treats from the fire, the whole thing burnt sugar on their tongues. Tonight, he didn't even suggest it, though he knew a bag of them was sitting on the second shelf in the pantry. He finished hammering in the last stake, and the two of them sat, blankets over their shoulders, staring at the flames, saying nothing.

"I am going to make you talk about it, you know."

No response.

On the other side of the yard, the flames made strange reflections against the glass walls of his greenhouse. The flowers inside it, and even their shadows playing against the glass, are lost to the night. Ino stared at it too, and said, "My rose bush isn't blooming. I'm watering it lots, but it doesn't do any good."

He was startled by the non sequitur, but years in interrogation chambers had taught him what a person says is rarely unconnected to what you want to know. So, he turned his mind to the problem at hand.

"Do you think the roots are dead?"

Aiko was the real flower expert. He'd agreed to the shop as his cover so she'd have somewhere to try her hand at untangling the secrets of the First's techniques. He and Ino had both learned in the twelve years since his wife's death, but he didn't like roses, hadn't kept them for years since learning their various meanings. This plant was something Ino'd bought for herself a little over a year ago, and it had never, to his knowledge, bloomed.

"No."

"A bigger pot," he tried again.

"I dunno."

"Ino," he said, deciding for the blunt route. He didn't have the time he did at the I&I offices, after all, and his daughter should have a little more trust in him than a prisoner of war would. "What does this have to do with your performance tonight?"

"_Performance tonight_," she mimicked under her breath. He gritted his teeth. He could have made a bamboo switch easily from what grew in his greenhouse. Teach her some respect, but for the past while that tactic hadn't worked as well as it once had. And he wanted her to talk, not freeze up on him. So instead, he said, "I do not want to be forced to ask again. You do not want me to either."

The fire crackled and in the flickering light he could see his daughter's mouth move, purposely mumbling, with her eyes avoiding his. Progress just the same though. Maybe they _would_ have this worked out by the time Ino needed to be at the school to officially get assigned to Shikamaru-kun and Chouji-kun's team.

"Louder, please."

"I _said-_ I don't want Sakura to- _win_."

He fought to place the name for a second, before finally settling on the rounded cheekbones and high forehead of a girl Ino had brought around a time or two. He hadn't seen the girl or heard mention of her since-

Since Ino'd gotten her rose bush.

"Yellow roses mean the ending of an affair or relationship," he heard himself say.

"And Sasuke-kun doesn't deserve being inflicted with that traitorous, little _bitch_ on his team."

_Sasuke_. Now there was a name he didn't even need to think about. The Last Uchiha, Shining Pride of Konoha, and, because tragic irony defined Inoichi's life, Ino's first, rather obsessive, crush. There'd been strange rumblings about that clan before they were murdered, and strange ones about them after. Ino didn't need to be _anywhere_ near that boy.

Or any boy, really.

Well, except his friends' sons, who she hopefully would continue to not notice were boys at all. He reached out in what he hoped was a comforting manner, and said, "Well, you don't even know if she'll end up with him. No need to worry over-"

"And if it isn't her, it's gonna be mean, old Ami-baka," Ino cut him off, even while scooting to lean up close against him. "Or one of her little sycophants. And not _me_, cause- cause-"

Oh, Kami. Crying. His little girl had chosen the night before becoming a genin to turn into a full-fledged, hormone-wracked teenager. Where was the hellion that he use to know?

"You'll be with friends, Ino. You might change your mind about boys." And actually, she _would _change her mind about boys, he knew. She'd eventually have a kunoichi duty after all, but she didn't need to know all that right now. "But your friends-"

"Break your heart even worse," Ino spit out bitterly. But thinking of the troubled faces of those boys at the dinner table, he wasn't sure it was them she was talking about right then.

"Not Chouji-kun, Ino. Not Shikamaru-kun," he said into her hair. And for a moment he let her rest, head on his shoulder. Sometimes, you just need to hold her, Aiko had told him that night they'd first brought her home. She had, as ever, been right.

"We're going to fail," she whispered. Everything else to this point had been peripheral, he could tell suddenly, orbiting this, the heart of everything she'd feared. And success was a talisman no words from him could win. It was something she and her team must work for in the morning. Her breath was moist against his sleeve as she continued, "Shikamaru, he- he's _good_, more than good. I can see it sometimes- brilliant, you just know he could be- but he doesn't _do _anything. We'll get there, and he's gonna say it's too much work, and will just _lie down,_ and not even _try_ just like he's done all through school! And Chouji, he's- you _know _him- he's not a bad shinobi. Even just us, we might be able to make it work, but he always follows Shikamaru's lead. And- I'm tired of being alone. I _–can't_- do it alone. I can't be a team alone, and we're all going to be sent back to Academy like stupid Naruto-kun."

He shifted to try and move his arm without dislodging her from her spot against him. Making the hand signs that would douse the fire, he didn't speak for several minutes, instead turning over what she'd said. The Nara boy didn't look to be much of a teammate, true. Shikaku, and Yoshino-san in particular, had been annoyed he'd scored the lowest in the class next to that jinchūriki kid who hadn't even passed the genin test (and thank the powers that be for _that_, because having that murderous demon as a potential teammate of Ino's was unthinkable). But still. Academy was hard; to have not even tried and still made it? But potential only carried you so far. You had to, at some point, try.

Ino always tried, determination the most shining part of her. What worlds of difference between them, then. He would be interested now, even more so, to see this team grow.

"No matter what else they are, these two boys are your friends, Ino. I can't see them as the kind to break your heart, so I must believe, as you must too, that they are kind that will always try and help you. That when push comes to shove, they will have your back."

As Shikaku and Chouza had been his family since even before he lost his own, these boys will have his daughter's back. This was not even a question to him. Smoke rose in the air, the last embers dying out. She lifted her head and his skin felt cold where she had once been.

"Dad?" she said, no emotion at all in her voice. "We have to get up early, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, Ino."

"Okay. Dad?" she said again.

"Yes?"

" I love you. Good night."


	9. A Rose Blooms

Somewhere, in the city, a girl who was once her friend was probably crying, and further than this city, a boy who had tried to kill her friends, who were his own friends also, was running. People had nearly died. A mission had failed. A thirteen-year-old boy was a chuunin for reasons no one saw fit to explain. Another thirteen-year-old boy was in the hospital, breathing out of tubes.

Her fingers played with the bush's leaves, sandpaper under her hand. She'd gotten the bush when Sakura had ended their friendship. Getting yellow roses meant the ending of an affair or a relationship, but Ino knew they could also mean friendship. It was one of those peculiar double-meanings flowers often had. She should probably find Sakura, offer her comfort, force it on her if need be, but Ino doesn't move. Couldn't even find room in heart to regret that lack of compassion. She wondered vaguely if Chouji would like a clipping of this rosebush. He was also her friend. The symbolism is a little skewed, sine Chouji has never complicated anything within her heart. He has always been simple, sweet Chouji, in so many ways still the little boy who the school bullies had once teased. Still, the important thing was it would remind him she cared, and she made a note to bring him a plant in the morning.

Shikamaru slunk in between the narrow rows of flowers, and lay down in an aisle, in spite of both the cold cement and the dampness. He often did this whenever in her father's greenhouse. That way he could look up at the sky even then, though he claimed the glass' imperfection warped the view. Looking down at him, it suddenly struck her it had been a long time since he or Chouji had been in the greenhouse. Shikamaru's frame took up most of the aisle, and she had to squish in between the workbench's legs and his side. It wasn't until he'd finally shifted to the side a little that she even fit, and even then she awkwardly had to lean her head up onto his shoulder in order to lie down. The sun was brilliant through the glass, glaring down on them. Long shadows, from either the flowers above or her friend's moody attitude, swayed overhead. Squished in this closely, she was acutely aware of his heartbeat hammering through his chest, and of how much bigger he suddenly was than her. He was now easily a head taller than she, when six months ago they had seen eye to eye. Combined with the memory of the mission her male teammates went on without her, she felt oddly small, oddly frail, in comparison.

"Shikamaru," she questioned, and the humidity of the greenhouse swallowed her already-quiet voice. He grunted in response, and she hoped he knew how lucky he was they were in too-tight of quarters for her to whack him. Trust a lazy-ass to think an answer too much trouble to bother with. She wanted to know how Chouji really was; they weren't allowing non-mission related visitors till next day. She wanted to know how he was too, if he would tell her. But for once there were no words. Above them, and above the glass, the clouds drifted by. Watching them, for now, was enough.

"I wonder why he did it," he finally managed, and she could feel the words through his chest more than hear them. "Naruto was his friend. I sorta thought Sakura-san was too. I couldn't do that. I couldn't leave, and I couldn't do what he did to a friend."

She thought of Naruto and Sasuke, of Sakura and her, of Shikamaru and Chouji, and of Shikamaru and herself. She thought of hearing breathing beside her, and of the rosebush sitting somewhere on the bench above. She thought of her Haie-tai that she wore around her waist and of a ribbon she kept in a drawer. She thought of Deer-chan, and trusting a person enough to commend her body to them, for the duration of a jitsu at least, and she thought of what her family knew about the mind and of how little she understood the human heart. There was no answer to the question Shikamaru asked.

"The clouds are easier to understand," she muttered dryly and her head was jarred a little when he laughed. A smile curved on her own face. For now it was good, it was enough, to be so closely wound up against another person, a friend, and to know another friend was so close in both your thoughts, he was practically in the room. It was enough to know, that right at that moment, none of the three of you could ever understand what Uchiha Sasuke had done. Somewhere a girl was crying, and somewhere a boy was running. Somewhere else, in a room, there was no noise but breathing through a tube. And somewhere, quite close, in a room, this room, right next to her ear, a heart was beating as above a rose bloomed.


	10. Gifts

Walking into Chouji's room, the first thing he saw was a huge fruit basket on the table and a little behind that, shoved there as if forgotten in the excitement of food, was a plant. There were several new bouquets too, but only one person would bring a live plant into his best friend's room. Chouji caught where his friend's eyes had drifted to and grinned.

"Ino brought me those when she visited," he bragged. "Pretty good fruit too. Said she knew the hospital food sucked. She brought Sakura-san too, so I've had _two _girls visit me."

Shikamaru's lips curled back into some semblance of a grin. The hospital was already beginning to make his skin crawl, as if the claustrophobic emotions from That Mission were descending on him again. Still, you didn't stay away from the hospital just cause you felt guilty. Chouji needed visitors so, even though it was a pain, here he was.

He pushed aside some of the other offerings on the table to set down his own gift, cookies his mom'd made. Shifting things around, he fingered the course leaf of the plant thoughtfully. It wasn't blooming yet, but already a yellow bud was pushing out against the green.

"She said it was her favorite kind. Meant friendship," Chouji told him, seeing him linger over their friend's gift. He'd known it meant that, Shikamaru thought distantly, he just wasn't sure how. "She also said she'd bring Hinata-san next time she visited, so that will make _three_ girls!"

It was hard to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Trust Chouji to get excited about girls visiting. "Troublesome," he muttered and then grinned a little more when he caught Chouji rolling _his_ eyes back at _him_. The air pressing in around him lifted, and the hospital room was just a room again.

"Ugh, you can't even see the sky from here," he complained, collapsing back into the bedside chair. "Wanna play a game of Go?"


	11. Every Thought a Memory

A person's sensory memory is only about twenty seconds long. Then, if remembered at all, sensations are shunted further into the brain in fractured parts. _We remember things imperfectly,_ Ino repeated the chasim to herself. Still, Ino was sure she would remember this, down to the day, the hour, the instant it happened. Nine days after her father begins teaching her the more advanced and subtle clan techniques, seven days after staying late at practice at her genin instructor's request, six days after the meeting he'd arranged for her to have with Kurenai-sensei, which began with, "You are well-looking, Ino-kun, maybe beautiful. That is good. It is a weapon you must always use."

People remember the meaning, not the words when they talk. They remember the action, not the movements they take to accomplish an act. These are the exact words her father started his lecture with nine days ago. Her father said it, so it must be true, but- No. Her father may not have meant to tell her a lie but he wasn't telling her the truth either, she's sure of it. These days there's no snatchs of conversation missing, like her brain was a radio with bad reception. These days she is sure all her memories are fully intact. Kurenai-sensei's hands had been surprisingly soft when they took her chin and tipped back her head to inspect her teeth, the pads of her thumbs gentle when they brushed across her eyelashes. No part of her was unseen that day, and that is good because it is clear she will need every part of herself honed to do -

Ino sighed. She needed to Not. Think. About. It. Her stomach was already tying up in knots again, and her father had been on the watch for days now, trying to see if she would crack under pressure. He needed her to be okay, if he was going to continue the clan technique lessons. Kurenai-sensei had cautioned she must make sure he didn't stop.

"Inoichi-san is a man, after all. You must learn to fool men; practice on your father. You need these mind tricks. He knows that. Not knowing them won't stop those types of missions from coming."

She wasn't really able to play the part of daughter well enough these days though, so she had escaped to the greenhouse where, cold and muddy as it was, she could at least be assured she could be alone.

Pulling back a stray piece of hair with muddy fingers she looked back at herself in the warped reflection of the glass. She was pretty Kurenai-sensei had said she was maybe-No that wasn't right. "_Possibly beautiful_." Those were the exact words she'd said. Exact words; exact memories. Other memories, older ones, were not so precise, but even so Ino was pretty sure she's never been called that before. Not directly anyway. She knew she was good-looking, of course. Her father was hansome and she looked just like him. People had commented "What a pretty smile, what a pretty pair of eyes." As if her pretty face, her pretty pair of eyes, her too-small breasts, her scarred chin, her small nose… as if all these things together added up into- Possibly Beautiful. And how she wants to be all of that. Pretty enough for- not Sasuke, not anymore, but for someone to see, for her father to praise, for Sakura to come back to her, groveling for all her secrets. There were things she'd change of course- things she already was changing as Kurenai had advised her on the uses of make-up, but-

The light from behind flickered and her face in the reflection warped and disappeared as a shadow crept across the window pane.

Then the shadow in the glass spoke, "Admiring yourself? How novel for you, Ino."

Whipping around, she found Shikamaru's slumped form in the doorway. Despite what he'd just said, Shikamaru wasn't looking at her. He was looking around at the crowded tables before moving back towards the bench in the far corner. The tables were so tightly packed in that he had to turn sideways to make his way through them.

"You need to stop putting things in here so close together. I can hardly move," he complained. The bench was full and he looked at it in dismay, before finally reaching down to move the pots sitting there. He'd have to move them back before going; the only free floor space to set them on was the aisle he'd just walked through.

"I didn't move them," she said, glancing back to give the window reflection one last look. The Ino she also saw in the window didn't look so pretty again, not Possibly Beautiful at all. She looked thirteen and awkward. Ino turned away, moving through the aisles far more easily than her father –or, now, Shikamaru -could ever manage.

"You've just grown, is all."

She stared down at the pots in her way, and back at Shikamaru who wasn't looking at her.

"I can't get a good look at the clouds."

Ino felt a tick of a smile. It had seemed strange to smile much these past few weeks.

Should she tell him, she wondered. But it seemed so awkward to start, standing so far apart like this. Her toe pushed at the nearest pot, and it scraped against the hard cement floor. But there was nowhere else to put them. She had to stay where she was.

"It's not raining; you could watch the clouds anywhere outside."

"Everywhere's still wet from this morning though. And besides…"

And besides, she thought, with sudden understanding, Chouji was away at physical rehabilitation. Even as her mind takes her miles away to the cramped room where Shinobi have their rehab, her eyes tracked Shikamaru's hand movement. Sometimes the amount of detail there was to take in made her naeousous.

"Nevermind," he exhaled, and Ino wondered what he'd been about to say. They stare at each other for a moment and then-

"Tsunade-sa-"

They both spoke at the same time, both paused and then then both tried to speak again, still saying the same thing. Ino noted that his fingers twitch oddly more than she notices his blush. Look at the details of memory, Ino, her father had told her, You'll easily recall the predictable. It's the little things that will make any manufactured memory more real.

He waved her off.

"Got something to tell me?" His grin was wry. She wondered suddenly what he thought of her too-small breasts. Somehow telling him about Kurenai's examination of her would lay her too bare.

"My father is teaching me some new techniques," she offered lamely, her arm giving a half-heart gesture. He waited a moment for more because, of course her father is teaching her new techniques.

"Tsunade-sama gave me another mission." And then it was her turn to wait for more.

"I-," he licked his lips. Look behind him; notice more. What's there, her father's voice echoed in her head. Shikamaru continued, "Leading a mission. Such a drag."

For a moment everything else fades away as she concentrated solely on that in a way she hadn't done in nine (or was it eight, suddenly she was having a hard time remembering) days.

But then she does remember. Shikamaru didn't take her on the last mission he led either.

"Oh, well," She flung her hair back over her shoulder. "I'm afraid I can't be on the team you're putting together anyway. I'm getting ready to go on a big mission myself."

Shikamaru's eyes narrow.

"I just wanted to let you kno-"

"Shikamaru," she cut him off. She tried to reach out, but he was too far away. Her hand brushed only air and her own side. _My father is teaching me ways to make myself part of other people's memories so I can pretend to be their childhood friend, so they can remember fucking me, or yelling at me, or torturing me. Anyway they can best believe theyc an let their mouth run._ She swallowed and held her tongue. He looked at her- a look she couldn't read- but that flinty look in his eyes was gone. Bravado rarely fooled anyone who really knew her, but it had been worth a try.

I think I'll remember this moment forever, she thought, even as twenty seconds passed and still details were gone from her mind.

"Are you scared? About- well, it's the first since…then."

"No," his voice was flat. He could have been lying; he could have been truthful.

"Its just something with some Sand nin. Joint thing. Shouldn't be too troublesome."

There's a smudge of mud under his right eye, and the nail on his right thumb was chipped and he had on that shirt she hated. Remember all that, she commanded herself, and then smiled. Remember how his hand was twitching, how he was too distracted to see her rightly just then. That's okay.

"So this is good-bye then?"

He smiled at her. " for a bit."

"Ah," she nodded her head, and even though together it still took them a few minutes to move all the pots back to the bench, and several more to manuver the narrow greenhouse aisles, they say nothing more to each other, their hands moving close, but never quite in snyc.

Then he left her behind, only her and her reflection in the greenhouse again.


End file.
